It happened so quick! It was June 22, 2009 and it was 100 degrees outside, but I was nice and cool in my hospital bed cuddled up with my second beautiful baby girl. Now here we are July 2013 and that precious baby girl is FOUR years old!! Not only have the last four years flown by but so has this summer. June was one crazy month, but we did our best to make it a special month for our special little girl! After her second and last recital we headed out to dinner to celebrate! (warning..cell phone photos)
Ella was pretty excited to see the personalized dessert from the restaurant.
One of Ella's gifts was tickets to the Muny to see Shrek. It was a week after her birthday, but she didn't mind that we were still celebrating.
This was the girls first time to the Muny and they LOVED it! Shrek was a great show for kids and it kept them awake and entertained even though the show didn't start till 8:15pm. Ava laughed so hard throughout the show the people around us were looking at her and the giggling was contagious! Ella was more in shock and awe at the large and moving props! It was a beautiful and rare evening for the Muny...overcast and 70 degrees on June 29th!!!
Once everyone woke up on Sunday morning we headed out to G-ma and G-pa Fritz's for a birthday swim party. Ella can be very dramatic and very opinionated, however when it came to party planning and gift ideas she was VERY laid back. I asked repeatedly what she wanted for her birthday and her party and the answer was always the same..."I don't care, I want whatever people think I will like. Whatever you think Mom, I'll like that". This made it very easy to plan a party, but very hard to buy gifts.
We opted for the family pool party again this year. You can't beat the built-in entertainment of a pool! Especially with a big slide!! The day before Ava and Ella went down the slide without a problem, but for some reason they were not in the mood to try it again? That didn't stop Ashton...he went down repeatedly and was SO proud his head went under water each time.
It wasn't a fear of water that stopped Ava from going down the slide. The kids are all doing swim lessons again this summer and she started right where she left off last year. She can't get enough time under the water!
Ella is doing much better this year at swim lessons and is even going under water a little this year. However, when she is not with Mr. Jeff (swim coach) she does not enjoy going under and prefers to swim with her ring AND wings.
Ava and Ashton tried to show Ella how much fun it is jumping off the diving board...
but she was still having no part of it. She has been extremely cautious around water ever since she went under un-noticed last year. It was absolutely the most terrifying moment of my life so far, but everything was fine and she is slowly getting braver.
After some pool time, Ella and Ashton took a break and had some trampoline time together...
I'm not sure what they were looking at, but they played so well together. That is until Ella decided to play on the outside of the PROTECTIVE net and fell off the side! While Ella is cautious around water that is where it ends! Any other time or place she doesn't seem to pay ANY attention to where she is going, what is around her, or what may be dangerous! FOR REAL...she is always an accident waiting to happen! A beautiful, loving, sweet and caring girl, who should really live in a bubble!
Right about the time the kids were sick of the pool the rain moved in and so did we. Ella started opening her gifts, and as usual she had a lot of help.
She kept up the new posing habit she has by posing with each new gift she received.
Ella has out grown the old Radio Flyer scooter, not due to her size but more so by her abilities. She got a new scooter that will allow her to maneuver about a bit more.
She has also been into Strawberry Shortcake lately, and now she can look just like her when cooking. Ella is definitely my biggest helper in the house. She asks me all day long if she can help with whatever I may be doing, especially cooking. She would clean the toilets if I asked her to, and I would if I thought she could do it without getting toilet water all over her. Don't get me wrong Ava likes to help too, but she waits to be asked. Ella seeks out how she can help.
After gifts it was time for cake. I asked Ella what type of cake she wanted this year and all she wanted was a vanilla heart cake, chocolate icing and decorations. So once I got the heart made I turned her loose to decorate...I think she really enjoyed "helping" to make her own cake.
It was definitely an original! You can't see it very well but she did choose to have happy birthday written in pink gel icing.
She had a great time at her party and since her birthday was dragged out for so long she woke up Monday morning and asked if she was getting another birthday party. :) The party was only three days ago and I think the brakes on her new scooter are already wearing out. She rides it around the house, out on the deck (yes we finally have a deck!) and up and down the sidewalks! I'm pretty sure she now prefers scooting over walking.
We go next week for Ella's official 4 year check up so I will be interested in all the typical stats. Especially since many people seem to be growing bigger and taller around her. She's our pint size princess! She is growing out of her clothes so I know some growing is going on, I think she's on track to be just my size! Between her being accident prone, stubborn, super sensitive and having a small stature...her and I have a lot in common!!
Happy Birthday my sweet Ella Bella, I love you SO much!
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